Elevator Shaft Fatality In Joliet: Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Woodwork Company, Owner

JOLIET, IL — Two years after a 23-year-old worker in Joliet lost his life by falling down an elevator shaft inside an older industrial building on the city's east side, a wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Lance Surges and First Midwest Bank Land Trust No. 6329, as well as L. Surges Custom Woodwork and Pio's General Construction.

Back in April 2024, Joliet Patch reported that Agustin Martinez Gallegos died at 225 Maple St. in the work-related incident.

Martinez was taken by the Joliet Fire Department to Silver Cross Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to Monday's lawsuit filed at the Will County Courthouse, Martinez-Gallegos was on the premises of 225 Maple St. in Joliet delivering a custom cabinet for repair by a tenant of the premises. He was using the freight elevator to deliver the custom cabinet, and "while unloading said custom cabinet from the freight elevator on the second floor of 225 Maple Street, Joliet, said freight elevator unexpectedly activated."

As Martinez-Gallegos tried to leave the elevator, his body was crushed between the elevator car and the ceiling of the elevator shaft doorway, the lawsuit revealed.

From there, Martinez-Gallegos then fell to the floor of the elevator shaft approximately 30 feet below. As a result of the crush injury and the fall or both, he sustained physical injuries that caused his death, the lawsuit outlines.

According to the plaintiff's attorney, Michael Holden, on or before April 9, 2024, the freight elevator operated between three floors and "did not contain interlocking devices between the hoist way door and elevator platform to prevent the elevator door from opening unless the elevator is at the called level, and to prevent the elevator from moving unless the door was in a closed position."

The elevator did not contain devices intended to prevent falls from the elevator platform, the lawsuit asserted.

"For at least 10 years prior to April 9, 2024, defendants Surges and or Trust No. 6329 did not retain, hire, employ or otherwise contract with any entity to perform maintenance, service, repairs or alterations to said freight elevator," the lawsuit stated.

Plaintiff Jose Martinez filed the case, and Martinez-Gallegos was survived by his mother and 15 adult siblings. The lawsuit seeks a monetary judgment against the defendants in excess of $50,000.

As far as Pio's Construction, the lawsuit filed by Romanucci & Blandin noted that Martinez-Gallegos was working for Pio's General Construction at the time of his death.

"Pio's General Construction may be in control of information essential to the determination of the parties or issues in this matter," the Chicago law firm asserted.

Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English told Joliet Patch back in 2024 that police officers responded to the warehouse building, where officers found the unresponsive 23-year-old man and rendered medical assistance until the Joliet Fire Department paramedics arrived.

Martinez-Gallegos was on the second floor of the building, assisting other employees carrying cabinets from the elevator, at which time the elevator began rising to a higher floor while the elevator door remained open, blocked by the cabinets.

Joliet police believed he attempted to escape from the rising elevator and became caught between the elevator floor and the second-floor ceiling before falling into the elevator shaft.